I have managed to go hands on with Fallout 76 during the latest PS4 B.E.T.As and being one of my favourite franchises I was both excited and apprehensive on what to expect from the game.

I love the series and the single player element that that brings with it, being able to roam around the open world wastelands to my heart’s content, talking to NPCs and fighting off whatever the world wants to throw at me.

The multiplayer version of this includes a different element, other players and the uncertainty that that brings along with it. You don’t know whether they’re going to help you or whether they’re just going to kill and loot you. In my experience with other online only games such as Sea of Thieves to name one, you’re more than likely to be screwed over, this is where the apprehension comes into it, it ruins the fun of the game.

One of the good things about West Virginias wasteland is that it’s that big that you’re more than likely not really going to come across anyone unless there is a public event, you might find the odd player here and there, and you can see where people are on the map. This is kind of a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand you can look at it that you can roam your hearts content, loot what you want to loot and just explore as much as you want to explore. But the bad side to that is that the wastelands seem a bit barren, empty and sometimes lifeless. The fact that this is meant to be reclamation day, a day where others are also out there with you, you would have thought that there would have been some NPCs dotted about for you to engage with, but there isn’t and it causes there to be a complete lack of interaction with the game world, which after a while causes the game to be a bit boring. There is a sort of quest line/story to follow, however I felt the game was drawing you more into exploring the world, and when this happens and there isn’t really much there to interact with, this when boredom has kick in, especially when those quests dry up.

I’m not sure if this is what Bethesda wanted from the B.E.T.A, to have people exploring the world more and more and getting to know the different regions, which if it was, then mission accomplished. I am hoping that there will be more added to the game over the first few months to keep people interested, because the game in the current state, I don’t think it’s going to hold the attention for a while.

If Fallout 76 is supported just like The Elder Scrolls Online with expansions and additions then the game is going to be worth playing, in a few months’ time after release, which will also allow them to iron out some of the issues the B.E.T.A suffered from.

There were issues with the B.E.T.A, as was foretold so I cannot complain about those really, it was to be expected, and hopefully these will be ironed out before the full release. However, with around 9 to 10 days before release, can the constant stutters and crashes be fixed in that time? Let’s hope so because I won’t be as kind in my review if they are there.

In terms of how the B.E.T.A looks there isn’t really much improvement on this from Fallout 4. The game doesn’t look bad at all, it’s a very nice looking game, there just didn’t seem to be much improvement from 3 years ago when Fallout 4 released. Actually looking at it, it looks like it could have been used as a new online mode for Fallout 4. It does however still hold the charm that we’ve come to love from a Bethesda game.

I did notice something in the settings, which allows you to turn on a ‘passive mode’ which is basically turning off PvP for yourself, however, others can still kill you… I’m hoping that with the full release or an update after that, if you have this passive mode turned on, it will put you in servers with other people who have it switched on as well. That would be a lovely touch for the full game.

I did enjoy my time with Fallout 76, I love the franchise and I think this is a nice new direction that they’ve gone in with it. It looks promising and something that Bethesda can build upon for years, just like they’ve done with TESO. In terms of the PVP element, I’m not too sure yet as I didn’t come across any one other than in public events, I could see them on the map, but mainly kept myself to myself to see what the time was about in terms of the world that’s been build.